Don't let go: Joel Miller x OC

All her fault⚠️

24th March 2025

It was the day after what was supposed to be a three day supply run that had unintentionally turned into almost a week long. They had planned on heading to a settlement that was only a days ride away however, upon arrival the settlement had already been taken over and occupied by raiders. Joel had debated taking the raiders on, he'd seen and won against worse odds but after Tommys stark reminder than most of the men in their team had families waiting back home, including Joel, he decided better. They ended up concluding that continuing to ride west to another settlement would be in the best interest of the group.

Unfortunately, with Jackson's rule of staying off the radio and the transmitters being way too far out of range, they had no way of contacting back home to make them aware of the situation and their decision going forward.

The rest of the run went smoothly. Bar from a small horde of infected which were swiftly taken out without much of an issue, it was pretty uneventful. They had managed to find the required resources and a few extra items before making the almost three day hack back home.
They finally made it back through Jackson's gates on day six.

Understandably, everyone back home had been more than concerned that the group of six hadn't come back within the initial agreed time frame. Ava in particular had become a bit of a mess when Joel hadn't come home on day three as expected and immediately jumped into his arms the moment she heard of his arrival. They had mainly spent the rest of that day in bed catching up on some well needed rest in between other activities.

The morning after Joel was up early as usual, his natural body clock as Ava would often describe it. The blonde still sleeping peacefully beside him as he sat up. He gently placed kiss against her temple, so gentle that she didn't even stir before getting up and ready for the day. He had been so exhausted and desperate to get home the previous afternoon, that he hadn't completed his written report on the events of the run. He left the house and headed towards the hub in order to get the report done and out the way so he had the remainder of the day to relax before his perimeter patrol that night.

He had managed to get his report written out within two hours. With them being out for six days, there was a lot that he needed to include. He left the hub by eight thirty that morning and started his journey back home.

He spotted Maria on route, her head spun in his direction and she then made her way swiftly towards him. What could she possibly want this early in the morning?

She had a bitter look on her expression as she all but stomped over, "You should have come back instead of continuing."

He sighed. Of course she was going to have a problem with his decision, "We discussed it as a group and all of them were in. We were runnin' low on basic necessities. We couldn't come back empty handed."

Maria shook her head, "Do you have any idea on the worry you caused? You were gone for nearly a week. I thought Tommy was fucking dead. Your pregnant girlfriend was a fucking mess, thinking you were gone."

Joel scoffed. There was no winning with this woman. He knew that if he had sent them all back and returned empty handed, that also would have been the wrong decision. At the end of the day, it was him who was now heading up the patrols and runs, a decision had to be made and he made it. "I had to make a choice and I chose the one that was in the best interest of the community. If we went into that settlement there was a good chance that we would have been fuckin' killed."

She took a sharp breath in through her nose and shook her head again, "If the best interest of the community was really that important to you, you would have come back. You should have come straight back to let us know what had happened and what your plans were. Five other men went out with you. That was five other families that were worried sick and assuming the worst."